Why servers should be seen like cows, not puppies

Brandon Butler |
April 12, 2013

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud computing is fundamentally about managing hardware resources, and the CTO of OpenStack company Piston Cloud Computing has an interesting way to think about the issue.

"There are plenty of applications that can fit nicely into the 'new' model where hardware is just the container and software can provide the needed reliability," Miniman says. "There are also some mission-critical apps that won't fit that model today and will have a challenge crossing the chasm between legacy and modern design."

Cows and puppies seems to be a notion apt for the cloud, though.

"I agree with [the cows and puppies] sentiment, though I don't like the callousness of it," says George Reese, CTO of Enstratius, which makes a software tool for businesses to manage cloud resources. "Individual servers don't matter. Individual VMs don't matter. It's the systems that run on top of them that matter. If the infrastructure underneath is failing, don't waste your time trying to figure out why. Throw it out and replace it -- preferably through automation."